Pages: 140-142

WARSAW
139
20763
WARSAW*.

[Regarding the movement in Poland, we have somewhat more detailed information, inasmuch as in addition to telegrams from foreign newspapers (which constituted the main source of the brief data on strikes in Russia reproduced here), there are added certain correspondences in the German press. We draw our information from the Berliner Vossische Zeitung.]

[Warsaw. January 7] On Wednesday and Thursday, a mass of proclamations from the social-democracy of Russian Poland and Lithuania was distributed here regarding the Petersburg events. The proclamation calls for a general strike and a joint action of Polish workers with the demand for the immediate convocation of a Constituent Assembly. On Friday and Saturday there was issued a special call for a general strike with the demands: 8-hour working day, establishment of public works for the unemployed, convocation of a Constituent Assembly to end the war and proclaim a republic, as well as a special appeal to the intelligentsia inviting them to support the workers.

On Tuesday there was also distributed an appeal from the Central Committee of the Polish Socialist Party, which states among other things: "Comrades! That which we have awaited with impatience has at last arrived. To the attacks on the disintegrating tsarism has been added the most principal attack of the Russian proletariat."

Here are detailed accounts of the strike from one correspondent.

Warsaw. January 21 (8). 10 a.m. The workers of the largest iron-foundry in Poland, Melnop, Rau and Lewentstein in Prague (Warsaw)** have just stopped work. So far order has not been disturbed. Patrols are walking around the factories. The gas works and water supply have been occupied by troops. The population is stocking up on kerosene, coal, and foodstuffs.

6 p.m. As was to be expected, the strike has become general. All factories, printing houses, etc. have stopped. Around noon the bakeries were literally besieged by the population. Now there is not a scrap of bread to be found in the city. Workers took the Mitler steam bakery in the Vola suburb by storm. The newspapers will probably not come out today. I went to the Vola suburb. On Chłodna Street I met a cab driver who was carrying two bodies of workers. A quarter of an hour ago there was a bloody collision at the corner of Chłodna and Vronia Streets [(Chłodna-, Wronia-)]. Cossacks threw themselves at the gathered workers with whips. The workers brought stones from a new house being built on Chłodna Street and pelted the soldiers with stones. Then came an attack with cold steel, and then a volley of shots. Many wounded and killed. On my way back I saw workers gathering again. From Vronia Street another detachment of cavalry and infantry passed. Street lamps are lit, but workers on Chłodna Street are extinguishing and destroying them. Strong military detachments are riding through the city. In all police stations infantry and Cossacks are standing ready. [The situation] The situation is extremely serious. — 6:20 p.m. I heard that bloody clashes have broken out again on Chłodna Street. The Warsaw-Łódź telephone line has been cut. The strike in Prague is complete. [[Kucherov] A crowd of cab drivers is forcing them to remove their uniforms (?).]

[Warsaw. January 28 (15)] January 15th, 5 p.m. The night passed relatively quietly. This morning most of the shops opened, but then they were closed again. At the present moment all shops, confectioneries, etc. are closed. Even pharmacies had to be closed. Streetcars are not running. There have been several clashes, but, it is said, without bloodshed. At 12 o'clock students from the university and polytechnic, numbering about 2,000, passed silently down Nowy Świat and Krakowski Przedmieście streets; on Theater Square they were dispersed. A meeting has been scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at the Prosectorium to express sympathy with the workers. The streets are unusually lively. Street lamps are burning dimly. The management of the gas works asks for economical use of gas, because soldiers, replacing the workers, work poorly. Bread is insufficient. Soldiers are selling their rations in places on the streets. For a loaf that cost 16 kopecks, 50-60 kopecks are being paid. A state vodka shop on Leszno Street was robbed and set on fire. It is still burning.

— 7:50 p.m. Theaters are open. The squares around them are empty. There are no cab drivers. Coffee shops are closed. Newspapers have not come out. Mail has not been delivered.

January 29 (16). 10 a.m. Yesterday's letter I could only send together with this one, since the lamps on Marszałkowska Street are broken and the road to the station is unsafe. At night troops bivouacked on Theater Square. In the morning several weapons shops were looted. Many vodka shops were destroyed. Characteristically, the crowd pours out the vodka; there is no drunkenness. The entire garrison has been mobilized. The situation is serious.

12 noon. During the night there were, it is said, several bloody clashes. At the present moment I hear volleys and cannon shots in the direction of the Vola suburb. There is talk of [thousands] hundreds of victims. The strike is growing. The city has been declared [in a state of reinforced protection] under martial law. January 30 (17). The number of yesterday's victims is unknown. There is talk of 160 wounded and killed. All industrial and commercial establishments are closed.

There have been no further correspondences so far. Foreign newspapers note that postal communications with Warsaw have almost been cut off. This is explained in part by the strike, but chiefly by measures of the government, which has now tenfold increased the work of the "black offices," which examine letters both to Russia and from Russia.

A police report appeared in the Warsaw Daily concerning the events, which, needless to say, falsely conveys the facts and tries to play up the looting of shops (by police provocateurs?).

[Warsaw. January 28 (15)] On January 15th on the street [were wounded] were attacked by troops, the British consul in Warsaw and the vice-consul. The British ambassador intervened, and the Russian government appointed an investigation.

[Supplementary information on the Warsaw strike]

[W]hen workers on Friday were going around the factories, the owners asked: what are your demands? The workers answered: "we are striking not because we have demands against you, but for political reasons. We want to show that we are dissatisfied with the general order of things." To factory owners unwilling to close their factories, they declared that this would lead to the worst consequences. The threat worked, and the factories were all closed very soon.

Russian students organized a meeting to express sympathy with the Petersburg fighters. Polish comrades did not take part in it. The meeting was surrounded by troops, and the students were given the choice: disperse or be arrested. Many chose the latter. Students who were distributing food supplies to the strikers were also arrested.

To a German social-democratic newspaper they wrote from Warsaw: There has been no general battle anywhere, but the executioners quite simply hunt for workers and the public in general during the day, shooting from time to time

* Lenin struck out from the title the words: "and Łódź. Poland." Ed.

** Prague — a suburb of Warsaw. Ed.